I’ve passed through the nearby village of Kiltormer and its small Roman Catholic church regularly, unaware of the beauty within. Recently, however, curiosity led me to stop and venture inside. The building itself is a simple structure, built in the early decades of the nineteenth century with little adornment but on entering I was surprised […]
For generations the townspeople of Athenry and the surrounding community have celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15th August) as pilgrims. On this feastday, known as ‘Lady Day’ hundreds undertake the short pilgrimage to a holy well on the eastern outskirts of the town, known as ‘Lady’s Well,’ culminating in […]
As I write this post I feel an insatiable desire for multi-layered fudge. There should be some left in the kitchen after our trip to Mountbellew Bridge yesterday but I’ve searched every nook and corner to no avail. I suspect Alison has hidden it as part of her continuing war on my volatile waistline. I should explain that we spent much of […]
I’ve long admired the poetry of John Betjeman and I’d find it hard to choose a favourite poem. Among those contenders would have to be ‘A Subaltern’s Love-song’, ‘Death of King George V’ or ‘In Westminster Abbey’ but the English poet had a wonderful feeling for Ireland and to my mind, few pieces of literature […]
Just back from a four-day holiday with Alison in Connemara. A good friend of Alison’s lives in a cottage near Rossaveel, in the Connemara region in the west of Ireland, and generously allowed us to stay in a small cottage beside her own house. This allowed us a marvellous break in what turned out to […]
Last tango class of the Summer in Galway City and a beautiful evening in the Rowing Club on the River Corrib to gather and celebrate the last season, meet old and new friends and look forward to a return again in the Autumn. I should explain that I met Alison, my wife, about four years […]
Fencing has a long tradition in east Galway, cut short by the replacement of the blade with the pistol as the duellist’s weapon of choice in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Duelling fell into decline in the early decades of the 1800s and was consigned to history by the middle of the century, […]
Sunday 9th of June, one of the hottest days of the year so far and I’m sitting in Java’s, the French Crêperie with the windows thrown open onto the old medieval streets of Galway City, bustling today with tourists and locals all making the most of the fine weather. Just spent the last two days […]